


Boxes

by LevelHeadedPrick



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Lucy needs to have more faith in Magnus' sneakiness, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-29 20:13:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13934529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LevelHeadedPrick/pseuds/LevelHeadedPrick
Summary: The best things come in the smallest boxes.





	Boxes

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to the people in my DnD group for betaing this for me! Also, inspiration for this came from a roleplay I had on omegle with not_mom, who is an amazing Magnus.

Lucretia’s soft, warbling voice intermingled with the sound of the shower to fill the apartment. Even Magnus admitted, when pressed, that she didn’t have the best singing voice. Her talents lay elsewhere. Still, a good morning and a hot shower could bring a song out of anyone.

She almost didn’t catch the sound of him coming back into the bedroom. She only noticed because she’d opened her eyes to make sure she was grabbing the right bottle of shampoo and she’d noticed the shadow of Magnus walking in front of the bathroom doorway. They really needed to get the landlord to sign off on the approval for Magnus to fix the sliding door, she noted. She listened to him go to the dresser, rummaging around in some drawer. She stuck her head out from behind the curtain and called, “What are you looking for?”

Magnus jumped at her words. “Nothing. I…my…have you seen my spare shoelaces?”

“Shoelaces?” Lucretia’s brow furrowed in confusion and she blinked shampoo out of her eyes. “For your boots, you mean?" 

“Yeah, for my boots. We bought a few packs after that Jack Russell got ahold of them last year, yeah?”

Lucretia had to duck back in and rinse her hair as her eyes started to really sting. “Year before last,” She corrected. It was hard to believe that they’d been living together in her tiny apartment for more than a year. “I think you gave the last set to Lup, for her –”

“–Her knee-hightops, right.” There were a few clicks and sliding of drawers, and then the sound of Magnus’ boots on the tile. Lucretia finished rinsing her hair and peeked back out just as he was tucking something into his pocket. “I have to run, babe. I got a text just a bit ago that someone dropped off a litter, so they need the temporary kennels put together.”

“Oh?” She frowned at him as she grabbed a hand towel from the rack to dry her hands and face. Normally, he’d say something about a text like that. Her introduction to his job at the shelter was him getting a call while they were on a picnic on the other side of the city about an injured and scared stray and following him because she was curious. She couldn’t imagine why he’d dither around for a morning kiss with a litter of potentially newborn puppies.

Still, who was she to say no when he cupped her cheek and pressed their lips together so tenderly? “I love you. Have a good day at the office.” Each sentence punctuated with a kiss.

“Not likely. Tax season.” Lucretia kept up the pattern. If he didn’t consider the puppies urgent, she didn’t mind delaying him. “Gotta prove to the government again that I’m actually helping people and barely paying myself and my employees enough to live.”

That got a laugh out of him. “Couldn’t you just send them pictures of where we live and call it a day?”

She flicked water at his face. “I like my apartment. It has charm.”

“And black mold.”

“Your place wasn’t any better.” Magnus shrugged and smiled at her. She rolled her eyes back. “I love you too, Goofball.” She leaned forward for one last lingering kiss. “Go save some puppies.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Magnus jokingly saluted her. “Seriously. Take it easy, Lucy.”

Just like that, Magnus was gone and Lucretia was left to finish her shower in silence. There had been so many things about the interaction that had stood out to her as strange, but she couldn’t place exactly what was going on with him. With a hiss and a screech, the shower turned off. She resumed her song as she got ready for her day at work. Dressed, makeup on, hair done, she opened her jewelry box to add a pair of earrings and maybe a necklace to the outfit. It was then that she found what Magnus had been doing. The garish plastic ring she prominently displayed with the rest of her nice jewelry was missing.

* * *

 

_"Oh!" Lucretia coughed and nearly spit out the piece of popcorn she'd tried. "That's disgusting." She'd been the one to suggest they try the novelty popcorn flavor, only to forget why she never bought nacho cheese Doritos when Magnus offered her a piece._

_To his credit, he was doing his best not to laugh. "It can't be that bad, right?" He tried a piece and made a face, but didn't spit it out. "Okay, that's pretty rank, yeah. I'll give you that. I mean, I've had worse. I've cooked worse."_

_Lucretia rolled her eyes and took the bag from him, putting it right into the garbage. "I'll never get that taste out of my mouth."_

_She half expected Magnus to make some comment about getting the flavor out of her mouth for her. That's what she'd come to expect from the kind of guy who took her to the movies on a first date. But he made no such comment. In fact, his gaze was focused across the room. "Do you like gum?”_

_"I...what?"_

_"Gum." She blinked in confusion as she watched him digging in his pockets. "They have mint bubblegum. Cons kids out of their quarters but they spit it out before they can get in the theater and stick it to shi...stuff. It's actually pretty good if you're expecting it."_

_She was slack-jawed and confused for a long moment. She didn't believe it until he triumphantly pulled out a handful of quarters. "Okay."_

_He smiled at her. "Great. Get the drinks, and I'll get some gum?" He offered her the fountain drinks they'd also bought. "I do half lemonade, half Sprite." She nodded numbly and they parted ways. With her carrying the drinks and him carrying a handful of gumballs, they made their way into the theater. When he stopped midway up, she almost slammed right into his back. He reached out to steady her almost instinctively. "Easy there, Lucy." He opened his arm to gesture for her to go into the aisle first._

_"Sorry. I'm used to sitting in the back."_

_He gave her a strange look. "I mean, we can if you want to. It's pretty empty. I just think the sound and picture's better here." He looked towards the back of the theater suspiciously._

_Lucretia laughed and shook her head. "No, no, you're right about that. I usually try to sit in the middle too." She walked to the center of the row of seats, pausing and looking at the screen to find the right seats. "I...on dates. Men usually..."_

_Magnus' eyebrows shot up in realization. "Oh! No. That's not... I'm sorry if you thought that..." Lucretia put a hand on his arm to calm his stammering. He smiled at her apologetically. "I just like movies."_

_Lucretia burst out laughing and shook her head. She understood what Carey had said about him being a goofball when she introduced them. "It's alright. It's refreshing." She held out her hand once they were seated "Can I have a gumball? My mouth still tastes like nacho powder."_

_He perked up at that. "Yeah! " Two objects dropped from his hand to hers. "Oh, and they had a prize machine, so I..." Lucretia laughed and popped the gum into her mouth before examining the opaque plastic prize ball. "It looked like the machine was mostly beaded bracelets? The picture of the blue one looked like it would go well with your dress."_

_"Well, let's see what I got, then." She opened it and dropped the prize into her palm. Magnus was apologizing before she even fully processed what she was looking at. There was a little plastic ring, painted silver, with a bright orange plastic stone about an inch long._

_"I am so sorry, Lucretia. I didn't even see there were rings in the machine, I swear." He stopped his slew of apologies as he saw the wide grin on her face. "You're not mad?"_

_"Of course not. I just didn't know you were planning on making a proper woman of me tonight, Mr. Burnsides." She grinned wickedly at him as his face turned a darker shade of red. "Are you going to put it on me?"_

_It barely fit on her pinkie finger. But she wore it the whole movie. Midway through, she put the armrest up and laid her head on his shoulder. Instead of wrapping an arm around her like she expected, he laced their fingers together. He snorted when he touched the ring. He pressed his lips into her hair and murmured, "You can take it off if you want. I won't be offended."_

_She looked up at him through her lashes for a moment, considering him carefully. In one motion, she twisted their arms so his went around her and pressed her lips up to his. “I don’t do anything I don’t want to do, Mr. Burnsides. It’s my ring now. I’ll wear it if I want to.”_

_He stared at her with a slightly open mouth and let out a breathless wheeze of a sigh that she would come to know was a sign of him being incredibly aroused. Satisfied, she settled comfortably against his side. Their fingers were still entwined and eventually, he relaxed to put his cheek on the top of her head, but it didn’t get more intimate than that in the theater. Which was something Lucretia appreciated._

_A few hours later was a different story. A goodnight kiss as he walked her to her car escalated quickly until they were making out like teenagers. She’d been lifted to sit on her trunk, one hand fisted in the fabric of his shirt and the other draped over his shoulder. His hands were almost chastely still on her hips. “Magnus–” She tangled her fingers in his hair as she gasped for breath and he moved his lips to her neck. “I can’t. I have work tomorrow.”_

_He laughed against her jaw. “You’re the one holding onto me, Luce. Not the other way around.” She whined as he pulled back after that to…to look at his phone? “Put in your passcode for me?” No, her phone. When did he take her phone? She numbly typed in her password and he typed away while she caught her breath. There was a text alert – not hers. His. He handed her phone back, asked her to text him when she was home safely, and left. Lucretia watched him go. She knew, staring at his ass as he sauntered away to his own car, that she was a goner._

* * *

 

When she got to the office twenty minutes later, she didn’t stop to put her stuff down at her desk. She walked straight into the break room, where she knew Carey would be making her morning coffee. “Morning, Boss!” Carey greeted with a grin, “Robbie brought in bagels if you haven’t already eaten. Woah!”

Lucretia ignored the statement, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her into the nearby empty conference room. “Magnus is about to do something very stupid and I need you to head him off.” She explained the situation as she understood it. They’d had a lot of conversations lately about their future together. About buying a house, about dream weddings, about dogs and children. She knew Magnus would do something eventually to get her ring size, but she hadn’t expected this morning. “I think he may have forgotten that it barely fits on my smallest finger. Carey, you know him. He doesn’t have a bit of shame. He will _happily_ stand in front of a case of engagement rings and pull out a piece of plastic he spent twenty-five cents on.”

Carey groaned. “Pan on a pita, the boy’s a disaster. Alright. I’ll take the fall for this one. I should have been more specific about _which_ ring to take.”

“I figured you were involved.”

“I mean, he helped with Killian’s. Not that hard of a deduction I’d return the favor.”

Lucretia sighed and put her hands on her friends’ shoulders. “Carey, I need your help. Please. My ring size is seven and a half. Make up something about how you figured it out, I don’t know. You can have the day off with full pay to go find him. Please.”

“Any idea where he might’ve gone to?”

She smoothed a hand back over her hair, trying to think. “No, I really don’t. I can’t imagine he’d be able to completely skip out at the shelter today. You can start there.”

Carey took her hands and squeezed them. “You got it, Boss. I’ll take care of it. And, just so I can be the first to say it? Congratulations.”

Lucretia tried to focus on work. She partially succeeded. By the time people were clocking out for their lunch break, Lucretia was able to plot a large stack of forms on Brad’s desk for filing and distribution. She got herself a cup of coffee and wandered around, trying to look casual. Carey still wasn’t back, and that was worrying. She sat down back in her office and pulled out her phone.

 

[11:43 am] Any luck? -L

 

Lucretia was considering calling Carey or even going back out into the main office space to get Killian when she finally got a text back.

 

[12:06 pm] shelter said he had off -c

[12:06 pm] no jewelers at the mall have seen him -c

[12:07 pm] should I call off the search, or try some freestanding jewelry stores? -c

 

She sighed as she read over that, trying to parse what she should do. What she could do. What _Magnus_ was doing, if Carey of all people couldn’t find him.

 

[12:09 pm] Come on back. Not fair to Killian to give her all your work just to save Magnus some embarrassment. It’s probably too late anyway. -L

 

After that, it was almost impossible to focus on her work. She tried all her usual methods. She closed the office door, but she could still hear the chatter when Carey got back. She tried putting on a bit of music, but she found herself listening to that instead of properly focusing on the forms she was filling out. But she trudged on. It was something that needed to get done, no matter how slow-going it was. She only stopped when she noticed that her glasses had slid almost to the tip of her nose and there was an ache forming behind her eyes. She pressed the heel of her palm against them and grumbled as she saw an inverse of the forms she’d been filling out inverted on the inside of her eyelids. That was enough, then. She needed to take an early day before she gave herself a migraine. She wrapped up the form she was on and then spent a bit of time organizing for the next day. Within the hour, she'd wrapped up and was heading home.

She sighed as she trudged up the stairs to the apartment. She didn't even make it back to the bedroom, just collapsing tiredly onto the couch and pulling her phone out of her purse. She had to tell Magnus something, right? If by some miracle he hadn't been to any jewelry shops yet, she could stop it.

 

[4:23 pm] Magnus, dearest. Did it occur to you while you were fishing through my jewelry box while I was in the shower this morning that perhaps one of my nice rings would be a better size comparison than the the one you got out of a gashapon on our first date? L

[4:24 pm] I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't take the gashapon ring. M

 

Lucretia paused. It was an expected answer, but that didn't mean she was happy with it. Before she could decide on how to continue, she got another text.

 

[4:25 pm] Are you home? M

[4:26 pm] I just got home, yeah. Took off a bit early. L

[4:29 pm] Of course you don't know what I'm talking about. I didn't expect you to. I wouldn't even mention that I noticed something like this if I didn't think you might actually take a piece of plastic that barely fits on my pinkie into a real jewelry shop. L

[4:30 pm] Luce. All your rings are in your jewelry box. Go check it if you don't believe me. L

 

Lucretia felt a moment of panic. She didn't stop it in time. He'd already returned the ring.

 

[4:32 pm] I am so sorry. I should have texted you this morning. I sent Carey after you but she couldn't find you. L

[4:33 pm] Lucretia. Love. Go check your jewelry box. M

 

Lucretia frowned, not understanding. But if Magnus was insisting, there must be something to it. Besides, she needed to take her other jewelry off before she passed out. She kicked off her heels and padded into the bedroom, taking out her earrings as she went. When she opened the lid of the box, she was very glad that she wasn't wearing glass earrings as she immediately dropped them. Her gashapon ring was there, and nestled just next to it was a beautiful engagement ring.

Lucretia gently pulled it out to examine it. From the center stone, the white gold band was shaped so it looked like it was wrapped with delicate vines. Tiny sapphires stood out as accent pieces, making little buds of flowers on the vine. "Oh my god."

Arms wrapped around her from behind. She nearly jumped out of her skin until she heard Magnus’ laugh. He kissed the back of her neck softly. “Do you like it?”

She was speechless, opening and closing her mouth in shock. “How…when?”

He laughed. "You have so little faith in me."

Lucretia frowned, turning in his arms to face him. "I'm so sorry. I didn't–"

He interrupted her with a kiss on her forehead. "Don't worry about it. Wouldn't have been able to do this without you jumping to conclusions.” 

She grumbled quietly. He laughed and tightened his arms around her waist, pushing her up into a proper kiss. She sighed as she rocked back onto the flats of her feet. "Carey knew about this, didn’t she?” Magnus' sheepish expression told her enough. She sighed. "She just came to the shelter and hung out with you all morning, didn't she?"

"She came up with the fakeout. I was just going to leave it for you to find when you got home. She was tickled pink that she got a paid morning off out of it." Lucretia rolled her eyes. Magnus kissed her forehead, trying to pacify her. “I've had the ring a few weeks. After helping with Killian, I'm pretty good at knowing how to size rings without needing to take them to a jeweler. Just measured it while you were asleep one night."

“Dork.”

“Nerd.” He kissed the tip of her nose.

“Goofball.” She looked up at him with a soft smile. "Well?"

"Well?" He repeated, his brow furrowed.

She held up the ring. "Are you going to put it on me?"

He jolted a bit. "Right! Right." He let go of her and took the ring from the jewelry box before getting down on one knee. "I know we've been talking about our future plans and all that, and I cherish every time you remind me that you love me. So, I want to think I already know your answer. But I really want to hear it." He took her hand in his, squeezing it affectionately. "Lucretia, will you marry me?"

"Abso-fucking-lutely." She surged forward to kiss him. In his surprise, he lost his balance, sitting down hard on the floor. They laughed and she followed him down, settling in his lap. He took her hand again and finally slid the ring on. They would worry about telling their friends later. They would worry about getting up later. For now, they just sat there on the floor of their tiny apartment, wrapped up in each other and in a moment neither of them would ever forget.


End file.
